xp: dr doesn't approve baby led weaning?

Kyleedawn08

so at our 4 month check up, we talked about starting solids since we will be hitting 6 months and hopefully introducing before his next appointment. he said he didn't like the idea of baby led weaning for any baby before i even mentioned it... but he also said not to start with veggies (like we planned to) and do iron enriched rice cereal first (haha.. NOT happening). the plan was, to do homemade pureed veggies and fruits as well as some baby led weaning, after doing research this way just makes sense to me. it is what i have been planning on and am comfortable with. this is the first disagreement our ped and i have had, should i just throw everything he said out the window, or follow the advice of our trusted dr?

mben1119

It sounds like your pediatrician is working off of either very outdated or very limited research. Do what works for you, as long as LO doesn't have any weight or allergy issues. I started with rice cereal, and wish I hadn't. It was a waste of time and money. Plus, its gross.

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

Kyleedawn08

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

nanabanana06

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

Kyleedawn08

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

brachysira

I am completely where you are.  I want to start with some purees but mostly let my baby feed herself with pieces of food.  The doctor's office doesn't recommend that, but that's what my mom did for me and so we're going to do it.  Since I had a preemie, I am going to take my peds advice about when to start, which will be sometime after 6 months.

BrittanyDoesDerby

I would say follow your instinct, mama. Purees, BLW, or a mix of both. A lot of pedis will say no to BLW simply because they don't know enough about it. I keep flip flopping, myself. I was all gung-ho about BLW for the longest time, but now that we are approaching solids as an every day offering, I find myself wondering about making homemade purees. Meh.

rjeller32

Kyleedawn08:

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

I agree with PP's. Baby led weaning means no puree's at all. That's the whole point. Doing puree's and adding chunks of food to the menu is just the normal routine to a mush fed baby. Baby led weaning literally means "to allow a baby to feed itself with suitably sized chunks of food" and the reason there is no puree's in BLW is because it teaches a child to swallow first, then chew, which can cause choking issues when introduced to chunks of food. If you are going to do BLW, you need to go all in or don't do it at all, personally.

ASmallWonder

Doctors are trained in medicine and this isn't about medicine, IMO so I think his opinion is just that.  It's not based in medical research but rather, how he personally feels.  If you've done the research and you're comfortable with your choices, let that guide you.  I defer to the pedi on things like vaccines, treatments for illness, etc. and I hear her out on things about milestones, potty training, feeding etc. but I also trust my judgement and my research.

linzeek44

I would do what you feel comfortable with. I would listen to his concerns but go with what you think is best (e.g., if he says he's worried about iron levels without cereal, just keep iron-rich foods in his diet if you skip cereals). 

[I think what everyone is implying with the BLW vs. not BLW comments above: Some people call it partial BLW but that's a misnomer since BLW technically calls for no spoon feeding. So I guess what you mean is "doing purees and some table foods."] 

nanabanana06

BrittanyDoesDerby:

I would say follow your instinct, mama. Purees, BLW, or a mix of both. A lot of pedis will say no to BLW simply because they don't know enough about it. I keep flip flopping, myself. I was all gung-ho about BLW for the longest time, but now that we are approaching solids as an every day offering, I find myself wondering about making homemade purees. Meh.

I did homemade purees with Rosie for like 2 months before just doing finger foods. It was so much easier to just make her a little plate of what we were eating. I'm doing BLW with Cade this time around. Purees just aren't all their cracked up to be.

LimaD

My pedi also recommended starting off with rice cereal too...just curious why are some of you against that? 

nanabanana06

LimaD:

My pedi also recommended starting off with rice cereal too...just curious why are some of you against that? 

Rice cereal  is empty calories and unneeded. Plus they are finding that rice cereal has small amounts of arsenic in it. If I was to do mush for my baby I'd skip the cereals and offer things more nutritious.

sschwege

uconnhuskie007:

My Pedi also doesn't approve of BLW and I trust him so we arent going that route either.  I didnt do it with DD and she's a-ok so far.  It just makes me nervous and his opinion sort of gives that feeling weight IMO. 

We are also doing Rice cereal, BTW.  Per my pedi.  i think most of the women on this board have a similar view RE: BLW and cereal, and thats Cereal is bad, BLW is good and people who don't agree arent worth a conversation about it.

For what it's worth, I don't do BLW.  I made my own baby food for DD and will do the same with DS.  May feed him oatmeal, not sure yet, but I will never feed him rice cereal.  It's got arsenic in it, so why pedis are still recommending that stuff is beyond me!

CC1017

My pediatrician didn't even know about BLW.  I think most pediatricians are really under educated when it comes to things like breast feeding and baby led weaning. I would do what you feel comfortable with. I skipped the purees and cereal and I'm glad I did.  If I feed applesauce or yogurt, I put it on the spoon and hand the spoon to DS and he feeds himself.  One of the great things about BLW is the exploration of textures and tastes - it's been really great to watch him learn.

penguingrrl

Pediatricians are great for medical advice. I think of what to feed as a parental decision, not necessarily a medical decision. I think that a pediatrician is within their realm to recommend waiting until 6 months, avoiding fast food (with older kids), etc, but I don't think recommending rice cereal or purees over small pieces of solid food is up to the pediatrician as long as you're not handing them a McDonalds happy meal at 3 months.

I used homemade purees for my first and planned to for my second because the larger chunks made me nervous that young. She was done with purees by 10-11 months. My second had other plans and had no interest in any food until I handed her a cheerio at 8 months. That was the first bit of solids she ate. After that we slowly introduced things and realized she had no interest in being spoon fed, fed by us or in eating something with a puree texture, so we unintentionally did BLW. With #3 I plan to follow his cues. If he's interested in me feeding him purees I will, if he has no interest I'll give him solids and see if he's interested. FWIW my puree fed older child is by far my more adventurous eater although my second is opening her palate more lately.

juliane2004

rjeller32:

Kyleedawn08:

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

I agree with PP's. Baby led weaning means no puree's at all. That's the whole point. Doing puree's and adding chunks of food to the menu is just the normal routine to a mush fed baby. Baby led weaning literally means "to allow a baby to feed itself with suitably sized chunks of food" and the reason there is no puree's in BLW is because it teaches a child to swallow first, then chew, which can cause choking issues when introduced to chunks of food. If you are going to do BLW, you need to go all in or don't do it at all, personally.

I highly disagree. To me, "BLW" means whenever you feed solid finger food, where they feed themselves.

I feed DD2 purees AND she feeds herself mum-mum cookies. PP, I think you absolutely can do both.

They need to learn to eat solid chunks but they also need to learn to eat soft foods (or foods that need to be eaten with a spoon). DD2 can't spoon feed yet, so I do it for her.

Kyleedawn08

Nana_Osaki06:

LimaD:

My pedi also recommended starting off with rice cereal too...just curious why are some of you against that? 

Rice cereal  is empty calories and unneeded. Plus they are finding that rice cereal has small amounts of arsenic in it. If I was to do mush for my baby I'd skip the cereals and offer things more nutritious.

sorry for not explaining before.. but this exactly. if i am going to feed my baby anything other than the nutrition of his bottle, i want it to be nutritious as well. there are other ways to include iron into the diet. i would even be ok with adding oatmeal cereal into a puree for that source, but just plain cereal im not ok with

rjeller32

juliane2004:

rjeller32:

Kyleedawn08:

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

I agree with PP's. Baby led weaning means no puree's at all. That's the whole point. Doing puree's and adding chunks of food to the menu is just the normal routine to a mush fed baby. Baby led weaning literally means "to allow a baby to feed itself with suitably sized chunks of food" and the reason there is no puree's in BLW is because it teaches a child to swallow first, then chew, which can cause choking issues when introduced to chunks of food. If you are going to do BLW, you need to go all in or don't do it at all, personally.

I highly disagree. To me, "BLW" means whenever you feed solid finger food, where they feed themselves.

I feed DD2 purees AND she feeds herself mum-mum cookies. PP, I think you absolutely can do both.

They need to learn to eat solid chunks but they also need to learn to eat soft foods (or foods that need to be eaten with a spoon). DD2 can't spoon feed yet, so I do it for her.

I wasn't saying you can't feed both, I noticed your LO is 9 months old, so of course it's okay to do both, and they should be at that point. But when you are choosing between purees and BLW at 6 months, they advise against purees all together because it teaches them to swallow first, not chew like I specifically said. Giving purees and eventually giving chunks or things like puffs/mum mums is what a normal mush fed baby does. BLW is completely different in that you let your child explore and interact with their food. I fed mush with DD1, and by 7 months, we had started giving chunks of food. This time around, I am going to completely skip purees and go right into chunks. If she gets soft foods like applesauce, yogurt or what have you, I am going to let her get into herself, with her fists, or a spoon, whatever she wants. It's messy, but BLW wasn't meant to be a clean process.

Here and here are some references for you if you'd like

nanabanana06

juliane2004:

rjeller32:

Kyleedawn08:

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

I agree with PP's. Baby led weaning means no puree's at all. That's the whole point. Doing puree's and adding chunks of food to the menu is just the normal routine to a mush fed baby. Baby led weaning literally means "to allow a baby to feed itself with suitably sized chunks of food" and the reason there is no puree's in BLW is because it teaches a child to swallow first, then chew, which can cause choking issues when introduced to chunks of food. If you are going to do BLW, you need to go all in or don't do it at all, personally.

I highly disagree. To me, "BLW" means whenever you feed solid finger food, where they feed themselves.

I feed DD2 purees AND she feeds herself mum-mum cookies. PP, I think you absolutely can do both.

They need to learn to eat solid chunks but they also need to learn to eat soft foods (or foods that need to be eaten with a spoon). DD2 can't spoon feed yet, so I do it for her.

Rjeller is correct though. If you read the book and the information out there on BLW you will know that there is no spoon feeding. It negates the purpose of babies learning how to feed themselves at their own pace. With BLW you can do soft foods, but you do them with dippers or on a preloaded spoon that you give to the baby. There is no force feeding by spoon with BLW. Sure, people who do purees will do some finger foods, but BLW has zero purees and zero spoon feeding. It goes against letting them set the pace of learning how to feed themselves.

penguingrrl

juliane2004:

rjeller32:

Kyleedawn08:

Nana_Osaki06:

Kyleedawn08:

mabenner1:

 Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

i know, our plan was to do only partial baby led weaning not full on. 

Then you aren't doing baby led weaning at all. 

let me reiterate this then, we want to be doing solids along with purees from the beginning, which my dr doesn't agree with. but from research, this is called partial baby led weaning. sorry if my wording is not 100% correct, i am just a mom not any sort of baby expert.  

I agree with PP's. Baby led weaning means no puree's at all. That's the whole point. Doing puree's and adding chunks of food to the menu is just the normal routine to a mush fed baby. Baby led weaning literally means "to allow a baby to feed itself with suitably sized chunks of food" and the reason there is no puree's in BLW is because it teaches a child to swallow first, then chew, which can cause choking issues when introduced to chunks of food. If you are going to do BLW, you need to go all in or don't do it at all, personally.

I highly disagree. To me, "BLW" means whenever you feed solid finger food, where they feed themselves.

I feed DD2 purees AND she feeds herself mum-mum cookies. PP, I think you absolutely can do both.

They need to learn to eat solid chunks but they also need to learn to eat soft foods (or foods that need to be eaten with a spoon). DD2 can't spoon feed yet, so I do it for her.

Not all kids eat soft foods from a spoon. My 3 year old wouldn't eat them as a baby (so we went right to chunks of solid food) and pretty much doesn't eat them now either. She doesn't like that texture at all.

That said, you're describing a more traditional approach where the baby is spoon fed purees and finger foods are slowly introduced. That's not what people who do BLW do at all. The feeding is entirely self-guided by the baby.

I gave my now 3 year old chunks of solid food only since she wouldn't go near the purees, but I still didn't think of it as BLW because I would have fed her purees had she eaten them and I spend two months offering them before giving her a cheerio and realizing that she was happy to eat, just not that texture. 

thatoneredhead

OP, I did what you sound like youre planning on doing. I gave chunky homemade purees and also pieces of soft food. 

If my doctor said what yours said, I wouldnt have really changed my plan. I think you mean what I meant, which was maybe closer to "Baby-led-food-choices" Like, "Here's your mashed squash... and I guess a bite of my lasagna" 

*LrCg*

As a Mom of 3, it was established very on in our "relationship" with our doctor that we respect him as a doctor and he respects us as parents.  I take my kids to him so he can document their growth and if I have a medical problem that can't be kicked at home.  I am very honest with my doctor that we homebirth, belly sleep, bed share, we don't necessarily do BLW- I just don't do baby food and just start giving regular food when they are about 9 months old (they are EBF to that point, no extra vitamins/drops either- I prefer my kids to have "virgin guts" for as long as possible), etc- all my choices are out on the table.  We joke about it all the time: he'll say this is the time in our appointment where I"m suppose to tell you what the AAP wants me to say and you just smile and act like your listening (he's being funny; not rude).  I wouldn't want to go to a provider where I couldn't be honest with him/her and who also didn't respect me as a parent.  I had a pedi like that for my 1st child- our relationship lasted 3 months- I got so sick of him saying "breastfed babies need extra vitamins give him drops" (so not true), "cloth diapers don't allow the baby's skin to breath" (really because their cotton; your underwear is cotton you idiot), etc.  I never trusted a word of information he gave because 99.9% of what he said was wrong (a friend of mine still goes their and he gives antibodics for EVERYTHING).  

I'm not sure your situation would be the deal breaker for me but I think it would depend on whether he respects your choice at your next appointment that would make me reaccess the relationship.  

MrsT0514

mabenner1:

It sounds li. your pediatrician is working off of either very outdated or very limited research. Do what works for you, as long as LO doesn't have any weight or allergy issues. I started with rice cereal, and wish I hadn't. It was a waste of time and money. Plus, its gross.nbsp;Also, BLW doesn't include purees, at all.

This. Our pedi also made a stink when I mentioned that I was going to skip cereal and go straight to purees. He said something about him needing the iron, which doesnt make sense, considering DS is FF and the formula is iron fortified.

I still started with purees, but after starting with sweet potatoes, which DS seems to really like, I recently tried giving him oatmeal cereal, per the pedi's advice. Welll...wouldn't you know, DS is not seeming to like cereal at all. Its disgusting! TBH, I may not even bother giving it to him anymore and just go straight back to purees. I say do what works for your family. Doctors arent always right.